Not really goodbye
by TheGreatAndPowerfulThothOwl
Summary: This story is a oneshot. It is a TR. Tobias gets a visit from the least Okay, most expected person after Rachel's death.


All right, I have returned. Last night I was reading some fics and it really put me in an R/T kind of mood. As I was meditating an idea popped into my head that I decided to try out. What follows is the result of an anomaly brought on by system wide… wait that's the wrong story. Anyway enjoy.

Okay, Fine. I DO NOT, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED THE ANIMORPHS OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THE ANIMORPHS.

Not Really Goodbye.

By: Thoth Owl.

I have never before told anyone of this. I would have probably told Jake eventually. However, my untimely demise (or maybe it was time) robbed me of any chance. So, now, I tell my final story to only you. I hope that it lives in your heart forever.

My name is Tobias Alan Fangor, and I am an Animorph. I fought in a war. It was by no means a long war, but it was not short. It spanned three years during which time I grew up more than any child should be asked to. It was not the first war nor do I think that it will be the last. But, I feel that it was one of the most important and most difficult wars that has ever been waged.

We all grew up fast and hard during the war. All of the Animorphs. But one of us who grew up the fastest and the hardest was probably Jake. But I am not here to tell you about Jake. I am not here to tell you about the Yeerks. I am not even here to tell you about the war. I am here to tell you about Rachel.

I unfurled my wings and drifted lazily on the thermal. My thoughts drifted like some dolphin drifting out to sea. I had been a dolphin drifting out to sea. Isn't that ironic. My thoughts drifted to _her_. Rachel. My beloved. But she was gone. She was….

_Don't go there_, I told myself. It would only cause me pain. I slid the human, Tobias, to the back. I was not a human. I was a hawk. I had no name. I did not think about dead humans. I only hunted. And I was hungry.

A mouse was trotting along on the ground, strolling over dead twigs and leaves without a care in the world. It did not think about dead humans either. It only scavenged. But it was not hungry. I was. I struck, squeezing my wings into my body and diving. I unfurled my wings at the last moment and pivoted my body, bringing my open talons to bear.

The mouse never saw me coming. One moment it was tottering along, and the next it was floating towards that big cheese wheel in the sky. I ripped into two with my talons and flew back towards my big tree to eat.

My hawk brain saw her first. The human at the bottom of my tree was standing, her golden hair flowing on a wind that did not exist. The hawk brain only registered the invader as a threat. It dropped the mouse and let out a war cry while it flew at her with talons ready to rake.

_TSEEEEEER_.

My human brain was just in time to slam on the brakes. It flew to the front and in an instant I was the human, Tobias, again. I was a hawk with the mind of a human, but a human all the same. And my human mind recognized her. It was not possible but it was her all the same.

(Rachel.)

That one word escaped from my head before I slammed into the ground breaking almost every bone in my hawk body. But she was right there, not ten feet from me, and I was not going to die then. No way in hell.

My broken bones began to soften and meld back into whole shapes. They began to flow outward and their hollow cavities filled. My feathers melted back into my skin and my beak fell like a boiled noodle and slurped back into my face. My wings became arms, and my talons became feet. And then, all at once my morph was complete. I was a human.

I rested for a second and then flipped my hands underneath me. I pushed off from the ground and stood up. I was afraid to look back at my tree, afraid that if I did she would not be there. She was dead and I could do nothing about it. I took a deep breath and turned my head to the tree.

There she stood. She was beautiful. Her hair floated in a myriad around her face and she was adorned in a white dress that floated around her feet. Feet that were an inch above the ground. A glow surrounded her.

"Rachel."

I walked to her. My heart was beating so hard that I am sure she could hear it. A thousand questions swarmed in my mind but none could come out. I opened and closed my mouth several times. She only stood there and waited. Waited for me to ask. And finally I did.

"Is it really you?"

She smiled.

"Yes, Tobias, it is really me."

Her voice was in my ears and my head. I tried to hug her, to embrace her. I tried to touch her at all. But my hands went right through her. I couldn't even touch her. I started to cry. It was a very human thing to do, and I once again found my self glad that I was human. Hawks can't cry. I slid down to the ground weeping and she followed me down.

"Don't cry. We will be together soon."

My tears ceased as I looked up at her. God, she was so beautiful. A question came to mind. There were so many things that I wanted to ask her or say to her and this one came out.

"Are you in heaven?"

"No," she said.

I almost began to cry again but she smiled and said to me,

"I'm not in hell either, Tobias."

I looked at her questioningly but she spoke to me in that voice that could make the birds sing.

"I am in Summerland."

"I don't understand," I said.

"It doesn't matter. You have to listen. Jake is going to come see you tomorrow."

I once more found myself at a loss for words. I sputtered a little, until a single word came out.

"Why?"

She smiled her smile and it made me smile back. A huge grin like a little kid.

"You must rescue Ax."

Alarm rushed through me. I jumped to my feet, adrenaline pumping. Somewhere in the distance a Hork Bajir growled.

"What happened to him?"

I started to fire off another question but she shook her head and said,

"It doesn't matter now, Jake will tell you. But you must go."

I had been pacing but I turned then to face her.

"So you just came to say good bye then?"

She shook her head, her hair still floating.

"There is no good bye. We will be together again soon."

"In Summerland," I said. Not really a question.

She nodded. "And in all the lives after."

I slid once again to the ground. A thought came to me.

"I'm going to die on this mission."

She said nothing.

"I hope so. I want to be together again."

She smiled. After a moment I said,

"Jake's coming tomorrow."

"Yes."

"And I have to go with him."

"Yes."

"And, I will die."

Silence.

"And we will be together again."

"Yes."

"In Summerland."

"Yes."

I fell silent for a while, deep in thought. Then:

"I love you, Rachel."

"I love you too."

And she was gone. I stood in silence for a few minutes before demorphing and flying up into my tree.

Now I am in Summerland with Rachel, waiting for my next life. I can remember everything from every life. I was a samurai, I was a general, I was a knight. But, above all, I was an Animorph.

I am writing this story as I sit in the garden. The Hall of Akashic Records stands behind me. Someone will probably pick this story up while they are Astral Projecting. But, somehow it will get to you.

I said at the beginning that I didn't know if my death was timely or untimely, but I know now. I died when I was supposed to. I am with Rachel now. And I always will be.

Okay. I am done. Please R&R and tell me what you think. But this is a one-shot and it is over.


End file.
